How To Develop A Fitness Strategy That Works For You With Angelo Poli - REPLAY

Life happens, and not always the way we expect it to. Every single day we face change, stress, and uncertainty. What if you could learn to thrive no matter what life throws your way? Resilience expert Adam Markel and his inspiring guests explore breakthrough strategies to fully embrace change and build the resilience required to become change-proof.

Our theme this month To that end, enjoy the replay of my conversation with Angelo Poli. Angelo Poli is an internationally recognized expert in the field of body transformations. Poli pioneered the evaluation-based approach to weight management that has been hailed as a foolproof diet plan. He's the author of MetPro: The Science to Transform, which outlines his philosophy and workout system. Poli is also a serial entrepreneur. He is the founder of MetPro, the world's first algorithm-based weight loss engine, which is fueled by data that you feed into it each and every day. In addition, Poli is the founder of Whole Body Fitness, which provides weight loss, health, and fitness training programs for all ages and fitness levels by using a combination of the latest nutrition, conditioning sciences, and evaluation-based methods Poli and his team are able to create complete short and long-term fitness strategies that maximize people's weight loss process. Poli's clientele are from all over the world, ranging from scope of NFL MVPs like Aaron Rodgers and other elite athletes, celebrities, physique models, and entrepreneurs. He has been featured for his specialty in neuromuscular reeducation, posture and alignment, and weight loss sciences in major media outlets such as Men's Health, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, and as a regular columnist for The Huffington Post. Poli has spoken at conferences such as TEDx and continues to be a wellness consultant for multiple universities and hospitals around the country. The things that we discussed were, among others, why people do what they do and the beliefs that we have that affect the lives that we have, why you should start taking care of your future now, how progress is the greatest human motivator, and the importance of having actionable steps that work for you. Again, enjoy this replay of my conversation with Angelo Poli. Welcome to the show,

Angelo. Adam, thank you so much for having me. This is going to be great.

That is a mouthful of an introduction and something— Yeah, I'm sorry about that. No, no. Here's my question for you, though. What's not written What did I miss in that intro that you would love for people to know about you?

My wife would be happy to answer that question. She'd raise her hand and she would say, he puts his pants on one leg at a time. Let me tell you, he's just as ornery as everyone else. We were recently— business up for life insurance came up. I had to ask my wife the question, you know, do you want me to re-up? Do you want me to get this policy, that policy? You know, what do you want to do when I die? And she goes, I don't even like talking about that.

We're going there.

And I said, you know what? I have lived a full life. I've had so much fun and I've gotten to do so many of the things that I'm passionate about. It has just been a huge blessing for me. I'm grateful every day I get to do what I get to do.

That's cool. And I appreciate that.

Took a left turn on you, didn't I?

Dipped your toe in the water, man. You took a left turn, but then you put your little pinky toe in the water there. Just riff on what you just said. I'm a little bit older than you. I'm just looking at your hairline versus mine, although—

joke,

here

we go. Yeah, I know where this is going.

But man, life insurance, that's a tough topic. I would say, so here's a confession for you. Growing up in a household where my dad was a civil servant, worked for the City of New York, grew up in a small little apartment, my mom was a travel agent. This probably has nothing to do with what I'm about to say. Other than it just sort of sets the stage, but my dad didn't believe in insurance. We all have certain beliefs, and I think you and I, this is interesting, we're going to get into, I believe, today some talk about habits. We're going to talk about why people do what they do and why they, in their world, they look the way they look. Their money is the way their money is. Their business is the way their business is. Their relationships are the way they are because of what they believe deep down inside. That's what creates the habits that ultimately lead to these outcomes in our lives. Yeah. And so, it's interesting because early, early on, those beliefs are formed. And for me, one of the beliefs that was kind of embedded in me early on was listening to my dad say, nobody's gonna profit! And my dad, by the way, is still alive, knock on wood. Just talked to him yesterday.

Attaboy.

And he's still as ornery, almost as ornery as ever, and very definite in his opinions. I've always really loved that about him. And so many of the things that he was opinionated about were really, really good, like how you treat people. And love people and not discriminate. All these things were just things that I got to hear. But along with that good stuff, I got to hear some pretty negative things about money, about business, about prosperity of sorts, and about insurance in particular.

Wow. Wow.

If a guy would show up at the door, you know, back then, my day and age, he would show up at your door to sell you stuff. Today, you know, you get arrested for that, right? But the door cam will have, you know, like whatever. So some guy would show up to talk about insurance. My dad like slammed the door in his

face

because nobody's going to profit. I don't want my kids. Nobody's going to get anything out from a policy when I die kind of stuff. And so I grew up with that belief, man. And so it was a big deal for me that became a lawyer and Randy and I started having kids. We have 4 kids. It's like, am I going to continue that belief system like that? That should be the approach or not. So yeah, I got a whole big policy of insurance.

Yeah.

You know? And then interestingly enough, let one of those policies lapse because those beliefs are so strong. It was just sort of not really me. So let's talk about that for just one more second, right?

Yeah.

So life insurance, what does it mean to you? What's been your belief around life insurance?

Oh, for me, it's actually just more of a peace of mind. It's one less thing that I have to have in the back of my mind to worry about. So I want to make sure that people that I love, that I'm responsible for, are taken care of. The benefit today is I get it off my plate mentally, emotionally, and can just move forward with whatever it is that I have to deal with in the day.

Resilience. It's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. In times of massive change and disruption, the kind of rapid change that we're all experiencing as leaders, as business owners, as entrepreneurs, We have to learn how to not only increase our own resilience, but that of our teams. So right now we have a powerful opportunity for you to find out just how resilient you are. Some years ago, my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken. And all you have to do to get your own free resilience leader assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than It takes 3 minutes and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So, go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. Taking care of those that you love, making sure that they're going to be okay. There's an element of that and then there's also an element— I had this discussion with my father-in-law. Now, he's passed. I miss him every day. I love, love, love, love my Papa Lou. And he didn't take care of himself. So, he had life insurance. He had life— he was always that guy, just like the one you just described, you. He was that guy. Yeah. Take care of his wife, take care of his kids. He didn't take care of himself. And that was a debate that I would have with him sometimes. I know, Dad, you think you're being unselfish. Isn't it entirely the opposite? Like, aren't you being super selfish that you eat too much, your belly's too big, You're shortening your life because you're putting everybody ahead of yourself. We're legging into your business.

Yeah. Now, that's what I was just gonna say. That's kind of my area that I deal with day in and day out. It's really interesting. I would say that our— we work with exceptionally diverse clientele, but I would say an executive in his or her 50s is a real common scenario for us. Where they have gotten to a point where they've led a very high-velocity life, often a high-stress life, high-responsibility life.

Yes.

And because of that, what happens? Our personal health bank account gets drained, right? Because we prioritize other people, other needs above ourselves in the moment. We never intend to do that big picture, but in the moment, it's what happens. And those little things add up. And then finally, now we're in 40s, 50s, some people even younger than that, but we reach a point where at the doctor and he's saying, look, if you don't make some significant changes, you're not going to have the life you think you're going to have. You're not going to be around for the grandkids or to see great-grandkids. And that realization often hits people, we find, That stage of life. And boy, it's true, the old adage, ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, because I work with both sides. We get people after they've had a major episode. Maybe they're coming back from a heart attack or stroke or something like that. And it's not that you can't still turn it around. That's what we work with people all the time. Oh, it's so much better if you can grab hold of it, make it a priority. in your life before you get there.

You know, this is a weird theme here, but life insurance is the same way, right? If you start paying, if you start— and I'm, by the way, I don't own a life insurance company. Brought to you by Adam's Insurance.

It's awesome.

I think there's actually a Markel Insurance Company out there. It is not me, just so we're clear. My wife, when she first met me, brought me home to her folks. They thought I was the Markel Paper Company. We love this guy!

Oh, that's awesome.

Then they found out I wasn't related, but anything you start early is always better. It's like the compounding effect, and that's so important when you save money and you put it in simple interest, whatever it is, 2%, 4%, 8%, money doubles every 8 years approximately at 8%. The compounding effect is so important, and when it comes to your health, when it comes to what you eat, whether you exercise and how you take care of yourself, right? I'm preaching to the choir here. That's a big part of it, right?

Let me kind of dive into a little bit of the nuances there. I can tell you what the secret formula is. I mean, raise your hand if you want to have better health, better fitness, lose a few pounds, get in shape. You know, everybody wants that. Now, what's preventing us from getting there? I'll tell you what the missing ingredient is. Now, a lot of people would say they don't want to do the work. I've dieted over 20,000 people in my career. Wow. I've coached and trained So many of everything from executives to athletes and everything in between. I can tell you that by and large, that has not been my experience. Now, don't get me wrong, Adam, there are those people out there that are, you know, they just don't want to put in the work. There are those, but by and large, people are willing to put effort into something. Here's what's missing. They have to see Results. They need to see progress. The greatest human motivator is progress. And 95% of the time, what's holding someone back from seeing that progress is not the effort, though that is, you know, always an interwoven theme. 95% of the time, it's an efficient strategy. Because people say, well, I want to eat better. I want to exercise. And they go about their day as if it's a— those choices are a decision. They are not decisions. They are skills. You don't wake up one day and say, I want to be an accountant, and start being an accountant that day. You don't wake up one day and say, I want to be a lawyer, and you're a lawyer that day. You don't wake up and decide you want to be healthy, so all of a sudden, you know the tools and the tricks of the trade. Because there's a right way and a wrong way. And I'll tell you what the difference is. It has to do with our lifestyle and speed. I give people a lot of strategies like, well, I've read about you. I know some of the athletes, the celebrities you work with. So I know some of your approach. So, but I know that I need to eat these types of foods, or I need to do some food prepping, or I need to exercise. And I'll tell my clients, I know that you know that. What I'm here to do is to help you get good at it. Now, here's my definition of good. Now, it's my turn. Now, my definition of good is you being able to execute on those things quickly, because quickly and not quickly make the difference between sustainable and make the difference between progress and not seeing progress. So, here's how we execute on those things quickly. They're not cumbersome in your lifestyle. And that's really the science and the principle behind MetPro and what we do in helping people transform is execution to get— all comes back to progress. People want to see progress.

If I'm hearing you right, I think I am, you're condensing. So, we look at it in a sort of a chart that's time and outcome are the axes, let's say, that over time, small changes, and this is our pivot philosophy, which is not in conflict with what you're saying, it's just another way to look at this, but our belief is that small changes Consistently executed, produce a result over time. The problem with that, as I think you've stated, is that at some point you enter into the valley of death. You end up in this desert place where you're not seeing results. And because you're not seeing results, the tendency to stop, quit, get distracted, or go back to a different belief system— because part of why we change often is that we say, look, I I want to be different. I want something in my life to be different. And so, you're adopting a different identity. I mean, that's that whole fake it till you make it stuff, but you won't actually make it if you don't find progress soon enough because you're out in the desert. That's right. You've got no water. You've got no food. You've got nothing to sustain you other than probably your mindset, frankly. But, you're condensing it. You're making it quicker is what you're saying?

And we need to be able to write it down. We need to be able to bullet it and we need to be able to explain it. If it's too vague, if the action steps and the directions between where you are today and where you want to get, and call it out, I want to lose 25 pounds. I want a better mile time. I want to deadlift my body weight. I want to be the next super outcome.

Outcome, outcome, outcome. Right.

Call it out. And now we can map out and I'll tell you, there are 5 areas. I'm always trying to leave listeners and people that I get to talk with, with some sort of action steps. So, there are 5 areas that anyone can take home and with a little bit of knowledge, start executing on tomorrow. And here's the big secret. They're the exact 5 areas that all of our professional coaches work with their clients on. You reminded me of something. I got to tell you my story before I get into And your 5

areas are process, right?

Process.

And that's the difference here. I want people to really take note of this because there's a difference between an outcome and a process, meaning a system that produces an outcome. If you're focused on the outcome, I want this or I want that, better health or a skinnier body or whatever it might be, those outcomes are fine. They lead you into that desert where you go, Now what do I do because I'm out of water and I'm out of food and I'm ready to quit? I'm ready to turn back. But a process or a system is what sustains you when, let's say, the progress is either in small increments, small doses, or it might even be that you're not seeing progress at all for some reasonable amount of time. I mean, it's just— right? I mean, I don't know that there's any way that you can change that part of

it. That's what people experience and we have a term in our industry for that, a plateau. And that applies to— people think plateau weight loss, that applies to any area of human performance or transformation. And so there are specific action sets, science, priority hierarchies, process of elimination. There are processes to break through those plateaus. Years ago, I had a window cleaning company years ago, so I would have been 18. So I washed windows on all the mom-and-pop stores in the area that I lived. It's a great little company. One day, I'm washing windows on a local gym and this lady comes out. She's in her early 60s. And she says to me, I really want to learn how to lift some weights and get in better shape. You look like you know how to lift weights. Have you ever given lessons? Have you ever taught anyone? And so I said, well, I'll tell you what, I'm done working on this street in about an hour. I'll meet you. Anyhow, my first client, fitness client. So this was a whole new— and this was back in the day.

You're washing windows.

I'm washing the windows, right?

And the woman says, you look like a guy who could teach.

Right. Well, back then I did. Back in the day, I looked like a guy then. Now I look like— you look like you could be a Rogaine commercial guy. Back in the day, I was moving along. The lady came out to me and she said, we'll meet back here. This was before personal training was really hot and heavy a thing. That was more— personal training was related to like the bodybuilding industry. This wasn't everyone on the block has a personal trainer and a fitness program. Dating myself a little bit here, but that's the reality. So I met with her and it was a fairy tale story. She quit smoking, she lost 60 pounds, she married her high school sweetheart. Her self-confidence and everything went up. She felt healthier. It motivated me. Sold the window cleaning company, decided I'm going to get into health transformations, fitness. She brings her friend to me. Sorry, it was daughter-in-law. We're going back a few years. And she said, can you help my daughter-in-law? She has more weight to lose, but she's half my age. She's in great shape. She's going to do wonderful. So I did the same exercise with her. I put here, here's the same little meal plan. You know, we're going to cut the sugars. We're gonna do this. We're going to do that. Everything exactly the same. Take a guess how much her friend lost.

I have no idea. None.

5 pounds. Yeah, you got it. You got it. 5 pounds. Basically nothing. Because I realized that it is outrageous how unfair the metabolism is, that you can have 2 people doing the exact same thing. The exact same thing with 2 completely different outcomes.

Yeah. Positive in this moment that there are people listening to this right now who are going, yeah, I've been thinking that forever. That's freaking unfair, right? Makes no sense.

That's it. That's it. So when I realized that, I had to know why. Now, there's no Magic bullet. There's no quick fixes. There's no one-size-fits-all. If you do this, it works for everyone. But there is an intelligent evaluation process that helps get us on the right track so we can not waste time with strategies that are going to be ineffective for you. We want to pick the strategies that are going to work for you because there is so much information out there. And if I had to boil down what my professionals do for a living. Here's what we do. We help people to take all the information they've heard out here. Oh, you should do cyclical fasting. No, you should do ketogenic diet. No, you should count calories. No, you should watch your carbohydrates. No, you should do cardio. No, you need to build muscle. No, you need— what? All of that, boil it down, put it through the filter of your genetic predisposition, put it through the filter of your goals. your nutrition and training history and how your body is currently responding and output the actual best of strategies. What is the most relevant information for you? People ask me all the time, what's right, what's wrong? And I'm going to give you the actual answer. You want to know which program is right and whether it's better to count calories or manage your carbohydrates? I can tell you the truth right now. 20,000 people I've dieted. I've been doing this decades.

It depends.

I have seen every program. I've seen every single program work. I was alive through the decades, right, with the sweatpants and the everybody jogs and everybody does Jazzercise and step aerobics. I was alive.

Thank God for Jane Fonda, man.

The 2nd, 3rd CrossFit that ever opened was 2 doors down from me, and I was around for everything in between. And guess what? I have seen every one of the iterations and generations produce outstanding, jaw-dropping physiques. And I have seen every strategy and diet through the decades produce subpar results for people.

Right.

All about finding what you need and having a system for identifying, and quickly, by the way, is this working or not?

Wow. The pace of change over the last couple of years has been rapid. And if you're a leader, a business owner, an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every day it's something different and something new. But the one thing that I've learned in performing at the height of all of those roles has been that we must be resilient. In fact, it's the unsung hero in every single one of our lives. Success story that you will ever hear about. And it's the reason why my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken. And all you have to do to get your own free resilient leader assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. What's the biggest reason that you would say a person doesn't succeed in achieving their outcome? Meaning you have a process, as we said, there's process and there's outcome. So somebody has an outcome, they come to you. And maybe it's unfair they come to you, but just in your experience, whether they come to you or not, that a person does not succeed— I have the answer for that. Yep. Is it a lack of a process? And even if they have a process, so I wanted 2 parts to this question. They do have a process, they're abiding by a process. Why will they sometimes just not succeed?

They have the wrong strategy for them. So for your part B, Expectations. And I'll give you a classic example. So body types, genetic predispositions. You got 2 guys, they're in their 40s, they went to high school together. Now today, both of these guys, they both weigh 250 pounds. They both go on, decide, hey, you know what, we got to be around for our kids. I don't want to have to take out the next life insurance policy. We're back to life insurance. So they both decide we're going to go on a diet, we're going to lose weight. They go on the exact same diet. Guy A loses 50 pounds. Guy B, exact same thing, loses 20 pounds. So in his mind, Guy B is going, this didn't work for me, or I'm a failure, my body isn't responsive. Now here's what nobody's talking about. Let's rewind back to high school. In high school, the guy who lost 50 pounds, he weighed 165 when he graduated. The guy who lost 20 pounds weighed 220 when he graduated. You cannot expect 2 totally different body types, 2 totally different genetics, bone structure, circumstances. And so that creates so much frustration. Different metabolisms. Different metabolisms. So much frustration for, well, why does one person while another? We have to look into all that. So we have a process. This is actually step 3 in our process. We identify right out of the gate, are you a strategic or a metabolic? And I'll give you a clue. Everyone falls into both of these categories at some time, but where are we generally living? And here's what they mean. Strategic means when you eat clean, when you exercise regularly, your body generally responds. And by the way, that's the majority of people. The challenge is that in our busy lifestyle, in our go, go, go routine, and, you know, we got family, we got kids, we have work responsibilities, we got bills, we got deadlines. How do we fit in clean eating and regular exercise? How do we make it stick and make it stick in a way that isn't overly cumbersome?

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. All right. So I wanna cover a couple of things here. So is there— is there a quick yes or no answer to that? Or not even a yes or no, but Is there a short answer to the question you just posed?

There's a short evaluation. So we have to find out what your needs are. So because everybody's needs are different. First of all, people call me up and they say, okay, I've heard all this stuff about MetPro and your coaches and what they help people do. What do I eat? We're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We first need to know something.

Yeah.

Are you married? How many kids do you have? How often do you travel?

Evaluation, assessment, all that kind of thing.

Yeah.

I want to get into one particular area of this, which is that let's just assume They go through all that. They say, yes, you're the guys that are going to support me, or whoever it is, because there's a lot of people out in the space, and our folks know I'm not promoting anybody, not promoting anyone. It's really something deeper that I want to inquire into. So, regardless of the system that you buy into or that you invest your time in, there's a substantial number of people that still will not get an outcome. There's a reason for that that I want to see if we can dig into because it started with the beginning of our conversation about beliefs. And ultimately, if I don't believe that life insurance is actually a good thing, or if I believe that it's a bad thing, or if I believe that somehow people will benefit out of my death, that, that's a weird message that I'm sending out to the universe. Yeah. That you'll all be better when I'm gone because of my $6 million life insurance policy and all my screw-ups in life and everywhere I cheated or I deprived you or I was cheap or whatever it is, it's all going to be cleaned up when I die because there's that money, right? And so, if that's a part of your belief system, you may never get life insurance or you'll let it lapse. I mean, so much life insurance, we're not going to get into that. There's a lot of money made on people letting their policies lapse and then they have to get them new and pay more money and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? So, lots of people get onto the diet wagon or on the health wagon or the stress reduction wagon or any of these things. And they fall off the wagon, fall off the wagon, fall off the wagon. I want to understand from your perspective, is there a way to eradicate that self-sabotage? And if you do work on that, great. I mean, if that's part of your process, terrific. I want to hear it because I think that's where at the root of it, people can change when they understand why they stay the same.

Yep. There's 2 answers to that. The first one is, No, you're never going to fully eradicate. We have to eat to live. We have busy lives. It's always going to be a battle and it's a battle worth winning. It's a battle worth winning and it's never over. You've never won it. It's never, oh, okay, I conquered this. Now I can move on to something else. That is a constant. But here is, I believe you're getting at the difference between values Versus goals, the difference between character versus willpower. So I'll give you the short illustration. I love goals. That's action step 1, and why a good goal-setting session is actually about figuring out what you're not going to work on right now. But that's for another time. Goals are great as long as they are stepping stones to adopting actual values. So, here's the classic illustration that I think everyone will be able to understand. I'm getting married in 3 months. I want to be in the best shape of my life. That's a goal. That's not yet a value. And what happens? We hit that goal, we get in the best shape of our life, and then after the wedding, okay, maybe not so much.

That's a great example. That's a killer example, Angelo.

Thank you.

Nicely done.

Thank you. If somebody then adopts that lifestyle and places a greater value on living that lifestyle, it's going to transcend any wedding date because they've adopted it into their character. I'm going to borrow the example of a psychologist, and I feel terrible because I can't even credit his name. I don't recall his name, but example that I heard on willpower and character, and it was excellent. He used the example of, and I might get a little wrong, but you walk by a plate of cookies fresh out of the oven. So willpower is you decide, I'm not going to eat those cookies. I'm on a meal plan. I'm going to avoid that. But it's pain that you have to endure every time you have to avoid it. You wince a little bit.

Right.

Now, there are decisions that you make in life. It's like a muscle. It fatigues using that willpower over and over. There are other decisions that are almost identical that no pain, no pain whatsoever. You sit down at a coffee table at a restaurant and the guy who left right before you put a $20 tip down for the waiter or waitress. You know for a fact that waiter or waitress did not see them put the $20 tip down. Adam, would you take that $20 bill?

Are you asking me for real?

I'm asking you. Yeah.

Never in a million years.

No, of course not. Now, but here's the thing. Does it take any effort to make that decision? Do you have to wince and go, oh, no, that's not my money? No effort.

It's part of a value system for sure.

That's your character. It's in your character. You're holding yourself to that standard. You adopt that as your value, as your character. So now, it's not painful. So now, we can take that and apply those 2 principles to— people ask me all the time, how do I know when I'm at the place where this is sustainable? And they're looking for what weight am I, what exercise routine, how athletic do I have to be before I've reached that point? And to your point, with everything we've talked about, it's a mindset. It's not where you get your body to or where your health is at today. It's whether or not you have adopted the lifestyle that's gotten you there as your value system, part of your character. If you have, There is no backsliding. It's only forward progress.

This is so cool. So, there's a section in there about identity and about how part of the process of reinvention, the process, not the outcome of reinvention, but the process of moving out of one career into another or reinventing your body or any other thing that you want to change in your life has to do with adopting a new identity. We use this analogy of getting into the phone booth, similar to the way Clark Kent would walk into the phone

booth.

He'd come out of the phone booth as Superman. He adopted a new identity. And so, I am statements are one of those things we use a lot. We think about— I think about this a lot. I am— what am I filling in the blank after I am? I am a believer in life insurance, or I am not a believer in life insurance. I think what you're saying is that that's your value, that's your character. The person who walks past the $20 bill is saying, I am not a thief.

Right.

Right? I am someone who respects It's someone else's money and I leave it alone, right? And so the other analogy of, let's say, the cookies, you're walking past the cookies because your wedding is in 3 months. Well, you go, I am gonna be fit for my wedding.

Uh-huh.

Now, what's cool about that, and I love that example, is that the wedding comes and goes and sure enough, you achieved your goal, you've got your outcome, you look killer, the pictures are great. You go on the honeymoon and everything goes to pot on the honeymoon, right? And fast forward 3 months later and you're back to the weight you were before you started that whole trek.

Mm-hmm.

Because you haven't changed your identity. And I think that's really the root that we're both talking about here is that how you think about yourself, how you define that yourself. Like, and as an example, in that I am statement, so many of us, we were told we were fat or we were told we have a big body, you know, big bones, we're dense, we're this, we're that. You know what I mean? It's like, then you adopt that as part of your identity. So if you think that you're thick, you're whatever, I mean, I've heard so many terms about that. Or, I have a slow metabolism.

You identify with that. Yeah,

it's like, well, that's who you are and that is your thing, right? Then when you're into something like what you're suggesting, a new process to achieve a new outcome, ultimately your belief— this is my question rather than a statement. Do you believe that ultimately your beliefs win out over the best process, the best system, the best products? Do your beliefs always win out? What do you think?

I really want to say yes. I know where you're going. And so, I am going to say yes. But I do have to put an asterisk and tell you that I talk with believers every day, people that still are lacking some practical application. So, I'm also a believer in having a balance and having kind of that— you want both.

Oh, yeah. Belief without process isn't going to work either. That's like saying, I am rich. I am rich. I am rich. Every day you walk around, I am rich, but meanwhile, you're getting kicked out of your apartment.

You have to be not just a believer, but a doer as well. I really like disruptive behaviors.

Hmm.

Disruptive behaviors. So things that you can do that are small, simple, but highly disruptive in a good way. So sometimes people say, okay, I'm not about to go and, you know, go on this whole fitness journey, but give me just one thing to start tomorrow that will make And impact. And I tell people, I want you to prepare an afternoon snack and take it with you and eat it. Just one thing. Like, well, what do I eat? It's like something healthy. I don't care, something healthy, but stick to it. It's your routine every day. And here's the catch. You have to prepare it in the morning when you first wake up. That's easy. I can do that. Great. Simple action. Yet it is completely disruptive to your entire day in a good way. So here's how. If you can commit to doing that one thing, you're committing to so much more. What happens is if you're committing to preparing an afternoon snack in the morning, that means you're in your kitchen in the morning preparing food, even though it's only 3 minutes, you're going to get breakfast. So we check that box. You're going to get breakfast because you're already there. Might as well. If you have breakfast, then your blood sugar is stable. You're less likely to eat the donuts and the super sugary caffeinated beverage on your way to work because your blood sugar is stable. You got something in your body and you're going to make it to lunch. Most people don't miss lunch. Lunch is a pretty standard deal. So now you're going to eat a lunch, but you're more than likely going to eat a better choice than you may have Because you already had breakfast. But you also remember, I promised Angelo that I was gonna have that afternoon snack, which I have right here in my brown paper bag. So I'm gonna order reasonably because in the afternoon I'm gonna have this snack. And so now you have that snack and now you're at meal 3 by 3 in the afternoon. So what happens is no blood sugar dips at night. So it's easier to order better at night. And then less cravings after night. People say, oh no, Angelo, you don't understand my problems. I don't have any problems during the day. In fact, I hardly eat during the day. It's at night at about 8:30 or 9:00. I just get the munchies. So I'm like, no, no, your problem's back in during the day starting with breakfast. You set yourself up for a hormonal, a biological response that's going to take place at night if we can even that all out.

Yeah.

So, small disruptive behaviors, and it applies to mindset as well.

It's the domino effect you're talking about. I mean, it's the idea— I don't know if you've ever seen this demonstration, it's kind of cool— that you can start— so, the premise is that every domino has the capacity to knock over another domino that's slightly bigger than itself. So, I've seen this demonstrated with a domino that's like 3/8 of an inch high, and it knocks over another domino that's about twice its size, and then it knocks over another domino that's about twice its size, and it keeps going and going. And of course, they never get past a few dominoes because by the 28th domino, we're talking about a domino that would knock over the Empire State Building.

Oh, man.

But to see a domino that's 3/8 of an inch high, 4 or 5 dominoes later, knock over one that's 100 pounds, you go, are you kidding me?

Yeah.

But that's really what you're talking about. And that's—

Oh, I love that. I love that analogy.

And what's great is that it's physics. That's not mindset per se. That's just the physics of it. That's like the compounding effect. That's why to get out of your own way and do what you're suggesting, which is what's so brilliant, I think, Angelo, is that those small disruptive behaviors or actions that you take, they produce a domino effect. So kind of you can get those results more quickly. And as you said, we're all like little children. I don't care how old, how mature, what you look like. We're all little kids at heart. If we don't see something good happening pretty quickly, then we get really distracted. And that's not even so much how we're built. It's just the way we've been programmed now, I think, in so many ways. So, in fairness to us, seeing results sooner is actually really helpful to the process. You agree?

That's it. Absolutely.

Way cool. I want to talk about resilience for a moment because, so for example, A lot of our keynote speaking in organizations, to corporations, and even to a lot of my former colleagues, other lawyers, for example, is about resilience. In many ways, a lot of what we're talking about here, good health or good diet, meaning the foods you eat and the exercise and all these things, in our brand, they're about building resilience. Ultimately, we want to build resilience because it helps us to go the distance. You can't win a race you don't finish, right? Right. You can't succeed at something like if you were going to succeed at the highest level like an Olympic athlete because you work with Olympians, former Olympians, NFL players. We do too. We train a number of those people in a very different genre which is in the public speaking area. But ultimately, if you want to become great at something, there is an element of being able to stick around long enough to figure shit out, figure out what works. You're going to figure out what doesn't work pretty quickly. But you've got to figure out what works and that staying power to not only be around to figure it out, but also to produce the best results, to be at the highest level of performance is about, for us, this word resilience. So I want to know what your definition of resilience is, and I want to also understand one ritual, for example, that you engage in to create greater resilience in your own personal life. So first of all, how do you define resilience?

So, and of course, I'm looking through everything through the lens of my craft. I think that that term resilience transcends and it's bigger than that. But for the sake of our conversation, bringing it down to my craft, that's the ability to identify, process of elimination, identify what my steps are once I am convinced that, yes, this is my best next action, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, etc. I am willing to see it through and not waver because it's easy to go, well, I'm excited about that. That's new. And guess what? You're going to do it. A couple of pounds are going to come off. You're going to do it. You're going to see some results, but you're not going to continue to— it's not a linear pace. It's an over time. It's an endurance race. It's not a sprint for most people. And so that resilience factor is reinforced by understanding the science behind it and what your body is going through. And when you understand that, you're willing to stay in it mentally for the long haul.

Right. You can be patient because you understand it's not an aberration. There's nothing wrong with you because you're not seeing immediately what it is you're looking to see in the end.

Always gradual. But it does come.

It's like the 1% change, man. I mean, we usually graph what a straight line looks like and ultimately, you know, the straight line represents stagnation.

Yeah.

Ultimately death. I mean, we know what a flat line looks like on one of those monitors, right? But when you make a change in the direction, like you said, that small disruptive change, the trajectory is forever different. That straight line will never be a straight line and even though we know there's no straight lines in the universe anyway, nothing's linear, everything's sort of going to be these, if you look closely at these up and down and up and down, good day, bad day, market's up, market's down. Every market or every situation you look at, it's going to be like that. And yet, how do we ourselves continue to move forward in belief, with faith, with good energy, with love in our hearts when we get despondent or when we get depressed? Let's say that it's not happening fast enough. And so, you're helping people with process. You're helping them with really great strategy. As I've heard you, that's not a one-size-fits-all. In fact, it's the opposite. It's custom fit to a person based on the assessment that you do with them. Then ultimately, I think what's been interesting for me about our conversation is that they're having to also adopt a new belief. As a person who might believe, you know what? I've not succeeded in this area before because, whatever that because is. And say, I'm going to adopt a new set of values. I'm going to come out with a new character, with a new identity. And that might mean, you know what? I'm thin. I'm healthy. I have all the energy in the world that I could ever want. Whatever those things are that are not just statements in air, they're not just sort of airy-fairy things, declarations that don't mean anything unless you don't have a process to support them. But that new belief system with a process like the one that you're helping people with produces more, a higher level of success.

Is that right? That is right. And people produce that higher level of success, a relationship in your life. We'll have to do part B. We can do a whole second podcast. But I went through— so part of how I arrived at where I am, I walked with a cane for 10 years. I basically missed my 20s because of a serious injury, but I decided I didn't want to leave the health and nutrition, health and wellness field. So I tried to be resilient and I moved forward. But one of the things that I learned during that time is I stepped back. I'm no longer handing people dumbbells. I'm no longer exercising with them. I'm being more of the broad stroke strategist now. I got gigs in my early 20s where I would go into medium to large health club and I would help the owners develop an effective private training program where I would match up clients with trainers and I would help with designing an overall strategy. And then the trainers would take that client and spend the day-by-day time with them. Here's what I learned. You can have the exact same strategy, the exact same diet, and the exact same workout. and get 2 different outcomes based on the personality supporting you.

Hmm. Oh, that's interesting. Okay.

When you have somebody who really jives with you, understands what makes you tick, and can motivate you to want to be better, it is magical. And I promise you, no 2 people are motivated the We can in broad strokes. So in broad strokes, we at Metro, we use 3 broad categories. Everyone qualifies for each of these categories at different stages in their life. But there are some people who thrive with a very strong support system. They thrive with encouragement and someone really walking hand in hand with them, taking an interest in them. Other people thrive when they have the knowledge. They want to know the why, the how. If you just explain it to me, I'm going to thrive and I'm going to do really well with this if I understand it. And then the third type thrive when they're invited to a challenge. They have inside them what it takes, but they have to be measuring themselves against something else to really be at their best.

Hmm.

And so in this case, a coach or a mentor that is used to working with different psychological types will identify where are the buttons and the levers to help you get that mindset to where it needs to be to execute the process that's going to get you the results that's going to Fuel that mindset. Now you have, instead of a spiral downwards, you have a spiral upwards of progress.

I really hope you're enjoying this episode of the Change Proof Podcast. If you've not yet gone out and gotten your own copy of Change Proof, it's not too late. You can get your copy right now by going to ChangeProof.com, and not only getting the book and all the bonuses there, but getting access to our proprietary resilience assessment tool. It'll just take you 3 minutes to do, and it's something that will really help you to utilize the book even more effectively to create practices and rituals and habits that will increase your mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual resilience for the long term. Again, go to changeproof.com to get your copy today. Have you adopted either a set of rituals or one in particular that's helped to create greater resilience for you over time? What does that look like for you?

I know this may sound odd, but for me, having a strong priority hierarchy. In my life. Again, I'm looking at it through a lens, but that's bigger than just nutrition, fitness, health. That's just the way I live life, having a strong priority hierarchy. How is my ritual? I wake up in the mornings and I really think about what are the most important things that I need to accomplish today? What are the most important things I need to accomplish this week and this month? Because I have learned that I cannot accomplish everything, so I need to accomplish the right things.

Yeah, the big rocks or the—

Yeah.

That's key, Angelo. I mean, I've never been a great time manager, let's say. Time management's never been my strength, but priority management—

There you go.

—has been for sure. Okay, I know where to put my energy and my attention and that kind of thing. And what I'm hearing you say, and I think this is really going to help a lot of people too, is that To the extent that you can have that structure as part of how you go through a day and how you plan for a week, a month, a year out, that the most important critical things, the critical inches— I forget who it was. It might have been— I remember the author that used to talk about what's the critical inch. In fact, when I was a lawyer still, I had these signs all over my law office that said, what's the critical inch? What's the critical inch? Constantly refocusing on, like you said, what's the big priority here? Yeah.

Right.

Not how do I clean my— he's cleaning my desk, he's cleaning out my emails. Is that critical inch? Is that the most important priority in my life right now? I know it'll suck up a lot of time and I might feel better about the lack of clutter and maybe decluttering is a priority, but asking that question is super powerful. So, you know what? We are at the natural sort of ending point here for this discussion, but as you said earlier, I would love to have you back. We're just scratching the surface.

Adam, this has been a blast.

Thank you so much. So appreciated. Yeah. Well, wonderful conversation. I think what we've seen here too, I feel, is a great demonstration of that last point you made, which is that when you're with the right person, if there's a coach or a mentor or whoever it is that you're inviting into your world to support you, if the energy between the two—

Chemistry.

That's the word, right? I was going to say charisma, but it's the chemistry, right? If that's good, It makes that process so much easier. Yeah. Yeah, finding that right chemistry. So, thank you so much for being on the show. And for everybody out there, I'd love to get your comments as we thrive on your feedback. So, please leave a comment. The full show notes will also have information about Angelo, about MedPro, links that you can click, find out more about their work, their company, and how they're supporting people in the space. So, check that out. And of course, I'll leave you with the waking ritual, the one thing that I do consistently and have done so for 10+ years now, which is to plant seeds at the beginning of the day. I'm always looking for a little extra distinction about this process because it is so super simple, and simple yet not simplistic is how I put it, which is that we wake up, and that's no joke. It's no guarantee. I didn't get a guarantee when I went to bed last night that I'd wake up today. Angelo, how about you? Did you get a guarantee in writing last night? No.

Nope.

Nope. Lawyer in me says they didn't get it in writing. There's no guarantee. But nonetheless, you did wake up. That's a blessing not only for you and for your family and everybody in your world, but now it's a blessing for all the people that we've gotten to introduce you to. So I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that we got to interact today. And I suggest that in that moment when we're waking up and we realize we've been given this extra gift, this unexpected even gift, this miracle, if you will, And we can be grateful right then and there to start the day with some gratitude for anything.

Gratitude, yeah.

Yeah. So, it's a beast. Gratitude is a beast. It never fails to produce the result. Never. It's just remarkable how dependable, reliable that one small concept is in life. And then these words, which— what is your I Am statement for today? And what's the I Am statement you want to begin the day with? Because I do believe that our beliefs are the foundation for any new behavior. Not the behavior as a one-off behavior, but when you're talking about creating a new series of behaviors, new habits, new way of being, the beliefs will either facilitate that, grease the wheel of that, or they'll get in the way of it. So what do you want to believe about yourself? When I wake up, I say, I love my life. And regardless of whether it's going to be a cloudy day or a sunny day, figuratively, literally, whatever, I believe I love my life. That's exactly what I create every day. And so my question to all of you is, what do you want to believe about yourself today? Put that into an I am statement. Wake up, be grateful, and say that out loud. Been a blessing. Thanks, Angelo. Appreciate your time.

Thanks for having me, Adam.

Super awesome.

Thanks for listening, everyone. We hope you now have even more tools and greater insights to build resilience and become champions. Change-proof. Help us inspire others by sharing this episode and leaving your comments over at adammarkel.com/podcast. For more resilience tips and strategies, including support for building change-proof teams, visit adammarkel.com/becomechangeproof.